The Enamel Badges

The enamel badges are generally available as hinged badges as shown in the Cobra example here. The badge is connected to the leather keyfob by means of a hinged leather strap.

A few badges are available inlaid into the leather keyfob as shown in this example. If there is an option to have the inlaid badge – then it will show in the badge type option box when ordering in the shop.

Enamel Badges

All the enamels that we have produced for us are hard vitreous jewellery grade enamels made in the jewellery quarter in Birmingham.

Vitreous enamels were first made by the ancient Egyptian civilisations and there are plenty of examples from that time (5,000 years ago) which are still as vibrant and fresh as the day they were made. Faberge used vitreous enamels for their fabulous eggs. If vitreous enamel was good enough for Faberge – then it should be OK for our key rings !

Manufacturers have mostly now gone over to producing resin enamels – the so called ‘soft’ enamels.

These scratch easily and will last for as long as resins last before they start to degrade.

Occasionally we have to use them because that’s all that’s available – but we still persist with vitreous enamels for most of the key rings.

Back in the ‘salad days’ of key rings from the 1950’s to the early 1970’s – vitreous enamel was all that was available. Being a fired product produced at very high temperatures, vitreous enamel can often have production problems which cost us dear. ( Blue flecks in white enamel and porous enamels to name just a couple .)

In the interests of complete authenticity – we will soldier on with vitreous. When they are right – there is no substitute and they will last for thousands of years !

How We Produce Enamel Badges

1. Made to closely replicate original enamels from the time which we have gathered together in our reference collection. A good example of this is the Sunbeam Alpine enamel – the one we offer on our key fobs is an exact replica of an original from the 1960’s.

2. Made to our own design but based on original artwork from the time.

An example of this is our Triumph TR6 enamel and also our Austin Healey 3000 enamel.

Enamels for these two were not available at the time.

3. Re-using original enamels made at the time ( as and when we can find them) and supplying them with new leatherwork. An example of this would be Saab where we sometimes have original enamel badges dating from the 1980’s and 1990’s which can be remounted onto our new handmade leather fobs. If you have a requirement for a keyfob for a vehicle from a particular manufacturer – please ask.

Additional Information

If a manufacturer or licence holder feels we have over stepped the mark – please make contact. Bear in mind that we are a one man band making key rings by hand. It’s most unlikely that we are going to flood the market with counterfeit key fobs !

In almost every case the design we are offering will be representing an historic logo or design appropriate to classic cars of the marque – and not the current logo used by that manufacturer.

Our intention is to provide owners of classic vehicles with a top quality handmade product – made in England – & and not to intentionally infringe copyright.

Furthermore – we are easily and readily contactable and working from a UK address- not hiding behind a web address of unknown origin or ebay domain.